From Eat the Weeds
and other things, too
by Green Deane
Ipomoea: Water,
Land & See in Gardens
Glorifying Morning Glories
Three of the pictures below are not of the same Ipomoea. It’s three
different species, but that should tell you something. When you see a
Morning Glory species with a large, white blossom and a ruby throat it
is worth investigating. Large white Morning Glories flowers without
ruby throats are worth investigating, too. Other color blossoms are
more iffy.
A word of warning: There are several edible and several
inedible Morning Glories and impostors. They can all be easily sorted
out so do your homework. When you find a possible edible take a picture
and research it!
Ipomoea
pandurata, Wild Potato Vine
Ipomoea
pandurata (eep-oh-MEE-uh pand-yoor-RAY-tuh,
shaped
like a fiddle) is native to Florida and the eastern half of
North America. It has a large root that can be eaten if cubed and
boiled in at least two changes of water. Never eat it raw. It is also
called Wild Potato Vine and “Man of the Earth” because it can create
huge roots. Younger and smaller is better. Young roots can also be
roasted but they will be on the bitter side. Boiling twice is
the preferred method, then roast the boiled cubes if you like. Usually
straight down deep from where the vine goes into the ground you will
find the root. Yard-long roots weighing 25 pounds are possible. But,
they get more acrid the older they get so if you can find an big old
one you might want to let it be and look for a smaller younger one
nearby.
I looked for I. pandurata for many years before I found one, being
constantly misled by the iffy Alamo Vine. My friend and teacher, Dick
Deuerling spoke of the I. pandurata often but all I ever saw was the
very common Alamo Vine. Then one day while on the Orange
County Bike Trail near Chapin Station there it was (such moments are
important and remembered.) Now I see them often. Leaves are
heart-shaped.
The I. pandurata has two similar looking plants. They have white
flowers as well. The key to sorting them out are the leaves and flower
size. The aforementioned Alamo Vine (Merremia dissecta) has small white
flowers with a ruby throat and very dissected leaves that are shaped
like fingers on a hand, read palmate. While not edible per se the
Merremia dissecta is not totally with out some good features. It has
been used as a condiment and for medicinal needs. Leaf extracts have an
almond flavor from amygdalin, a cyanide precursor also called natural
laetrile. Needless to say it can be toxic stuff if handled poorly
either as a flavoring or a medicine. I offer no instruction on that.
Crush a leaf and smell it. If you smell almonds you have the M.
dissecta. That said, the young roots of a relative, Merremia dissecta
var. edentata, are cooked and eaten but it only grows in central South
America. The M. dissecta edentata leaves are not toothy and the
flower’s throat is not ruby. The name Merremia may be from the name
Miriam, meaning Mary, or Virgin Mary plant, said me-REE-mee-uh.
Dissecta is said dy-SEK-tuh and means dissected. Edentata,
e-DEN-tay-tuh, is toothless.
Ipomoea aquatica, Water Spinach
Our next Morning Glory on the white and ruby line up is Ipomoea aquatica, (eep-oh-MEE-uh a-KWA-ti-ka, water loving.) It’s a native of
China called “water spinach.” If you do find it, depending where you
live, you’re expected to report it because it grows aggressively. Where
fresh water doesn’t freeze, such as Florida, it is colonizing the
waterways. In northern areas, winter keeps it in check.
There are two versions of I. aquatica, narrow leaf and wide leaf, both
are edible. And actually they come in two colors. The “green” version
has green stems and white flowers with red throats. The “red” version
has purple-tinged stems with pink or lilac flowers with red throats.
They both grow only in water, or very damp soil. The vines, with milky
sap, can reach up to 70-feet long (the state of Florida says only nine
feet.) Shoots and leaves are the edible parts. You will not find this
in dry areas.
Recognized as a potential problem in Florida since the 1950s, I.
aquatica has been introduced into the state several times since 1979 by
various Asian communities. It is raised as a vegetable in
Florida under strict conditions and only for out-of-state sale. It is
also cultivated in Texas, Hawaii and California. In the United States
it is found in the wild in (mostly central west) Florida, Hawaii and
Puerto Rico.
Should you find it do your best to stop its spread by devouring said.
It’s the civic thing to do. It can be eaten raw when found in wholesome
water. Otherwise, it should be cooked. The leaves are 48%
carbohydrates, 24% proteins, 13% ash. They are rich in minerals and a
good source of vitamins A, C and E. It is a major food crop
and vegetable in the Orient. The roots are sometimes eaten. Like other
members of this family, they are toxic to horses.
Ipomoea batatas, the Sweet Potato
Our third similar Morning Glory is the common cultivated Sweet Potato, Ipomoea batatas (eep-oh-MEE-uh bah-TAY-tas.) As we already
know the root is edible but so are the leaves, cooked like a green.
There’s a huge variety of them you can raise. More so, in the winter
time if you have a sunny window, you can put a root in partial water
and will grow greens for you through the winter. The Sweet Potato
is mistakenly called yams.. well… that’s not originally true. More than
a century ago the marketing decision was made to call Sweet Potatoes
“yams” because true yams, of the Discorea genus, were widely eaten.
That moved into common language and now, wrongly, the Sweet Potates are
sold as yams and true yams are sold as yams, but rarely canned in this
country. To make things worse in other countries the root of the
edible Oxalis tuberosa, is also called a yam.
Another white and red combo is rare so no picture, Ipomoea macrorhiza
(large root) a perennial vine from large tuber. The rare
night-flowering morning glory is found in coastal areas of the
southeastern US. It was presumably introduced from the Yucatan by
aboriginal inhabitants before Columbus. Found on Indian shell middens,
large roots were cooked, might be edible raw. Plant has attractive
crinkled foliage and large white to pale pink flowers which bloom at
night like moonflower, which is up next.
Ipomoea alba, Beach Moonflower
We keep the large white flower but abandon the ruby throat. We have two
examples which are very similar. The first is Ipomoea alba
(eep-oh-MEE-uh AL-buh, white) a night-blooming morning glory with a
very fragrant, luxurious flower. Its sepals are mucronate ( that is
having a fine point often rising abruptly at the tip.) Note it is a
white flower without any color in the throat — okay a little yellow
maybe — though it has a five-star like greenish wrinkling or folding on
the top of the blossom, technically called midpetaline bands. The
leaves are heart-shaped. Nicknamed, Moonflower, the young leaves and
fleshy calyces are edible when cooked. They can be boiled or steamed.
They can also be dried for later use. Seeds edible when
young. Incidentally, it takes the flower about a minute to open. It is
also sometimes called Calonyction album. The raw leaves can be used
like soap. Looking nearly identical is the Ipomoea tuba, (eep-oh-MEE-uh
TOO-bah
I. tuba, aka Beach Moonflower, has has thicker leaves than the I.
alba
and likes a coastal environment, such as mangrove swamps. It is used
the same was as I.
alba. I. tuba is found from about St. Petersburg Fl.
south on the west coast of Florida. To help identify it from the I.
alba where their range overlap the sepals of the I. tuba are NOT
pointed but are round and blunt. Incidentally the white sap
of the I. alba and I. tuba might cause dermatitis and was used in the
early rubber-making process. “Tuba” in Dead Latin means trumpet.
Ipomoea macrantha (ma-cra-ANN-tha, large flowered) not
pictured, also looks similar to I. alba and can be used the same way as
I. alba.
Ipomoea lacunosa, Whitestar Potato
Do you remember the first Ipomoea in this article, the I. pandurata,
the Wild Potato Vine? The Whitestar Potato is similar except small
white flowers and heartshaped leaves. The cooked root of the
Ipomoea lacunosa, was eaten by American Indians in central and eastern
North America and California. Also consumed were the young roots of the
Ipomoea leptophylla , boiled or roasted. Roots over three-years-old
were not eaten. I. plummerae (which has grass-like leaves) was another
cooked root food of the Amerindians.
Calystegia sepium, Hedge Bindweed
The Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium) has small white flowers often
without a red throat. It has triangle shaped leaves and climbs counter
clockwise. The bindweed stalks, young shoots and root are edible
cooked, green parts steamed or boiled, roots boiled. However, it can be
purgative so regular eating of said is not recommended. The name is
from the Greek kalyx (calyx) and stegon (cover), referring to the
bracts that conceal the calyx, pronounced kal-ee-STEE-jee-uh or
kal-ee-STEG-ee-uh. Sepium, SEE-pee-um, of the hedges. The
blossoms can also have a pinkish tinge.
Ipomoea violacea, Morning Glory
The Ipomoea violacea (vye-o-LAY-see-uh, violet) is a bit of a
chameleon, it can range in color from white to blue under cultivation
(aka Ipomoea tricolor) but in the wild it tends to be violet. It’s used
the same way as the I. alba, that is young leaves and fleshy calyces
are edible when cooked. They can be boiled or steamed. They can also be
dried for later use. Seeds edible when young, cooked. Raw
leaves can be used like soap. This is the Morning Glory of drug culture
fame. The raw seeds have a little amount of a crude form of LSD.
Ipomoea cairica, Mile a Minute Vine
Ipomoea cairica, (KY-rik-uh, from Cairo) is naturalized from
Africa. Called the Mile-A-Minute-Vine it has edible roots and stems
though they are slightly bitter and both are slightly
cyanogenetic. Its flowers range from violet-purple to light
pink to white with a pink or red throat. The leaves while
called ivy-like look more palm-like to me with deep lobes of five to
seven. Roots were boiled, or, grated then roasted, no doubt to drive
off the cyanide. The fruit of the I. cairica (holding the seeds) is
used as a soap, just crushed against the skin and water applied. It
creates a lather. Animals known to eat the plant raw include
giraffes, goats, rabbits, guinea-pigs, and pigs. It is apparently toxic
to horses.
Ipomoea pes-caprae, Railroad Vine
Ipomoea pes-caprae (goat foot) or Railroad Vine, Beach Morning Glory
and Goat’s Foot Morning Glory, is often found on the sandy seashore.
Its cooked roots, stems and leaves can be eaten in small amounts as a
famine food. It is extremely common and usually the only Morning Glory
found along the eastern shore of Florida, literally on the beach. One
of its claims to fame is that it can reach 100 feet long or more.
Ipomoea quamoclit, Cypress VIne
According to Kew Gardens also eaten are the cooked leaves of the
Cypress Vine, Ipomoea quamoclit (KWAH-moe-klit, the Mexican
name), though they may make you sleepy and are cyanogenic.
They definitely must be boiled. Leaves of the Ipomoea obscura
(ob-SCUR-ah, dark) are eaten either in soups or as a cooked vegetable,
and leaves of the Ipomoea involucrata are eaten cooked like a green.
(in-vol-yoo-KRAY-ta, a reference to its bracts.) Some
subspecies are more forgiving on the gastrointestinal track. On the
other side of the world the Ipomoea digitata (finger-like) has edible
oblong tubers and leaves when cooked. It is not found in the Americas.
Ipomoea digitata, Vidhari Kand
There are several hundred species in the Morning Glory group and it is
suspected that most of them have edible leaves and other parts. But
don’t guess. Check out your local species with an expert.
Seeds of the I. tricolor, I. pandurata, I. nil, I. violacea and I. tuba
have been used for their hallucinogenic properties. In the state of
Louisiana the I. tuba became illegal in 2005 to cultivate for any
purpose other than ornamental. A close relative of the Ipomoea is the
Jicama, which has toxic seeds. All part of that plant above ground have
high amounts of rotenone, a fish killer.
The genus name, Ipomoea, is mangled Greek via Dead Latin. Ipo is often
said to come from Ips and means worm but that’s just linguistic
illiteracy among botany professors. To say it means “worm” is
stretching it. The basic word is Ipo which means below, beneath or
under. Homoios is perverted via Dead Latin as well. The basic word in
Greek is omoio not homoios. It means “similarity.” Ipomoea
means “resembling underground” as in the sprawl of a root, or perhaps
the tunnels of a worm. Batata is going to take some
explaining:
When Columbus landed on Haiti the natives there, the Tainos (Arawaks)
called the root “batatas” which literally means potato. The Spanish
changed that to Patatas. When the Spanish later saw the white potato
they called that Patatas as well. That changed in English to potato.
So, the white potato was named after the Batatas and became potato but
now in English we call Batatas the Sweet Potato. And worse, of course,
is calling the Sweet Potato a yam, which it is not. Yams are from a
totally different family, the Dioscorea.
Green Deane's
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